Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189323 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

Well Worth the Read
This is a great book and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Bethune's engaging and simple writing style made it easy to read and understand. Outlining his four-fold plan for turning around Continental airlines, Bethune offers advice to all business professionals. He uses numerous examples from his previous affiliations with the airline industry, as well as stories and anecdotes, to make his simple, yet profound points. At the end of the book, I felt like I could run an airline, too! As a frequent flyer who flew on Continental for many years, I was fascinated by the behind-the-scenes account of what was really happening. At times, I did find myself thinking he might have painted the past so bleak as to make his leadership look even better, but I'll allow him that. Bethune understands that the customer is not always right, but the customer is everything to a business. I would highly recommend this business strategy book to anyone looking to change an unhealthy organization into one more healthy and profitable.

Absolutely Incredible -- Bethune's Story is Exceptional
This book is absolutely invaluable for any manager or leader in an organization, regardless of size. The techniques are fundamental and scale to any size, whenever appropriate.

I've already recommended this book to many friends and associates and I continue to purchase countless copies as gifts or (effectively) as an "investment" in companies that I'm involved with.

As someone with a pre-Gordon "Member Since" date on my Continental Elite card, Bethune's description of Continental in the 80s and 90s brings back some all-too-familiar bad memories of what it was like to travel on the world's worst airline when failure was imminent. Although he accurately depicts the bad times with great detail, those people that experienced the disaster will probably best appreciate and understand Gordon's incredible undertaking and the drastic changes that were the result.

Additionally, it's noteworthy (and consistent with Gordon's nature) that all proceeds from this book will be donated to a non-profit organization that assists Continental Airlines' employees and their families in times of need. Best of all, you get inquisitive looks and smiles from flight attendants when reading this book on a Continental flight.

It's a shame that every company can't be as lucky as Continental to have a Chief Executive like Gordon Bethune.

Packed With Knowledge!
With literary assistance from journalist Scott Huler, Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune describes how he transformed the near-bankrupt airline into one of the best companies in the industry. He describes the massive changes he made to improve the product, changing a low-cost, unreliable airline to a top competitor that emphasizes customer service. The transformations he brought about by exerting strong leadership reshaped financial controls and employee-supplier-creditor relationships. The book is a fascinating read, written in a straightforward, this-is-how-it-was style, typified by Bethune's characterization of the company he took over as a... "lousy" airline with terrible service. Sometimes he gets a little repetitious in summarizing the action at each new step in the transformation, but that's just a minor complaint about an otherwise excellent book.....